2018 Armenian revolution

The 2018 Armenian revolution was a series of anti-government protests in Armenia from 31 March to 8 May 2018 which led to the resignation of Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan and the election of opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan as Prime Minister.

History
In March 2018, the Republican Party of Armenia - the dominant political party in Armenia since the 1990s - did not exclude the option of renominating their leader Serzh Sargsyan as Prime Minister, although had been in power as either Prime Minister or President since 2007. In 2015, he amended the constitution to remove term limits, and, in 2018, Sargsyan - with the backing of his party, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, and Prosperous Armenia - announced his candidacy for re-election.

However, opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan, the leader of the Civil Contract party, began a walking protest from Gyumri to Yerevan from 31 March to 13 April 2018. The Armenian police made no efforts to prevent the demonstrations, and, on 17 April (election day for the PM), lines of riot police had to stop protesters from blocking off the National Assembly building. After Sargsyan was re-elected as Prime Minister, the protests continued to grow despite hundreds of arrests, and the crowds reached 50,000 on the night of 21 April, growing to 250,000 by 1 May. On 23 April, Sargsyan resigned due to popular pressure, saying that Pashinyan was right, and that he was wrong. By the evening of 25 April, the ARF had withdrawn from the Republican Party coalition, and, by 28 April, all of the parliamentary opposition parties announced that they would support Pashinyan's candidacy for the premiership. The Republicans decided not to put forward a candidate for the premiership, and Pashinyan was elected Prime Minister on 8 May, ending the protests and ensuring the end of the Republican Party's semi-dictatorial rule.